2021 Personal Property Aid Estimates

August 14, 2020

To: Municipal Clerks and Treasurers, County Clerks and Treasurers, Technical Colleges, Special Districts


The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) would like to inform you that an estimate of your 2021 personal property aid is available on our website under Personal Property Aid Estimates. We also sent notices to each district electronically or by postal mail today, Friday, August 14, 2020.


General Information

  • Personal property aid will be distributed to counties, municipalities, school districts, technical colleges, special districts and municipal tax incremental districts (TIDs) on May 3, 2021
  • The estimated 2021 personal property aid is based on the aid distributed to your district in 2020 and may include a 2019 recast correction
  • The reports available on our website provide the detail for taxing jurisdictions by municipality and district totals

2019 Recast Correction

  • Due to a court-ordered correction, DOR re-calculated each district's 2019 personal property aid distributed on May 6, 2019
  • Due to timing, the 2019 aid was based on a ratio to calculate the property taxes lost for each district due to the exemption of locally assessed machinery, tools and patterns (MTP)
  • The 2020 aid was based on the electronically filed Form PA-550: Personal Property Value Report submitted by each Wisconsin municipality
  • The 2019 correction for each district is the difference between the 2019 and 2020 aid payment
  • Example 1: District A
    • Received $12,000 in 2019
    • Received $25,000 in 2020
    • 2019 correction equals $25,000 - $12,000 = $13,000
    • 2021 estimate equals the correct annual aid ($25,000) plus the 2019 correction ($13,000) for a total of $38,000
  • Example 2: District B
    • Received $15,000 in 2019
    • Received $8,000 in 2020
    • 2019 correction equals $8,000 - $15,000 = -$7,000
    • 2021 estimate equals the correct annual aid ($8,000) plus the 2019 correction (-$7,000) for a total of $1,000
  • If applicable, a correction of your 2019 personal property aid will be applied to your 2021 aid increasing/decreasing your district's payment
  • If there is no further legislative action, today's estimate of your 2021 personal property aid will be final

If you have questions, contact us at lgs@wisconsin.gov.